GlaxoSmithKline Fires Head of Its Chinese R&D Unit for Data Fraud

After conducting an internal investigation, GlaxoSmithKline has determined that a scientific paper that was published in Nature Medicine contained fabricated data and has dismissed Jingwu Zang, one of the listed authors, who was a senior vp and head of R&D in Shanghai, China, and seeking a retraction, a spokeswoman confirms. For now, his responsibilities have been assigned to others at the site.
Glaxo (GSK) has also placed three other employees on administrative leave pending a final review and a fifth has resigned, the spokeswoman acknowledges. She adds that the drugmaker is in the process of asking all the authors to sign a statement to that effect, which is the procedure the journal requires. We have asked Nature for comment and will update you accordingly.
The paper, which appeared three years ago, examined the role of a protein called Interleukin-7 receptor in treating autoimmune disease.